Ann Jellicoe was one of the new, post-war generation of playwrights associated with the Royal Court, who helped to revitalise theatre in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her early plays, whose plotlessness sometimes baffled initial audiences and critics, make innovative use of sound, image, and language. Focusing on youth culture, these plays blend comedy with absurdism. Ann Jellicoe's later career was devoted to writing and managing large-scale community plays involving hundreds of people. She also wrote several plays for youth and for children.

Milestones

15 July 1927 AJ the future dramatist (not to be confused with the Dublin woman of that name who founded organizations for the benefit of women in the 1860s) was born at Middlesbrough in Yorkshire.

9 October 1961 AJ's best-known play, The Knack, a comedy about the art of seduction as seen by a predatory young male, was first performed at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge.

27 March 1962 Reprieved from the scrap-heap as a result of its success in Cambridge, AJ's The Knack, her most successful comedy, opened in London.

1965The Knack . . . and How to Get It, a highly successful film directed by Richard Lester and based on AJ's popular play, was released.